Rebecca McLaughlin on Easter

Every month, The Good Book Company make available digital versions of one of their books at no charge. This month (March 2025) it’s Is Easter Unbelievable? Four Questions Everyone Should Ask about the Resurrection Story by Rebecca McLaughlin, a short but excellent exploration of the reality and significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection, which is available in exchange for an email address here.

Foundations 87 (February 2025)

Issue 87 of Foundations: An International Journal of Evangelical Theology, published by Affinity, is now available from here (requiring an email address for a link to a downloadable pdf, though check here) which includes the below essays (abstracts posted where available).

Donald John MacLean

Editorial

Ian Shaw

Slavery, the Slave Trade and Christians’ Theology Part Two: Theological Themes

Stephen Steele

Garnishing the Sepulchres of the Righteous: Textual Criticism in the Free Church Fathers

The continued publication of the “Textus Receptus,” for example, a new edition by Grange Press, the publishing arm of the US Presbytery of the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing), provides the incentive to investigate the text-critical principles of the Free Church fathers. How did they view the Textus Receptus? Did they defend it in the face of new manuscript discoveries in their own century? The clear evidence is that they did not hold to a “Received Text” that was “fixed”, indeed, the leading figures among the Free Church Fathers explicitly disowned such a view. Advocates of the so-called “Textus Receptus” have a track record of claiming support from figures in church history who were far from claiming its perfection. Famously, the Anglican Dean John Burgon (1813-1888) would not be admitted to the Dean Burgon Society (founded in 1978). The society named after him exists “To Defend the Traditional Received Greek Text of the New Testament which underlies the King James Version.” Yet while believing the TR to be “quite good enough for all ordinary purposes”, Burgon was “far from pinning my faith to it”. “In not a few particulars”, he wrote “the ‘Textus receptus’ does call for Revision”.

Alison Umpleby

Review Article: She Needs

Nick Meader

Resurrection: Apologetics and Biblical Theology

Mark Roques and Steve Bishop

The ‘Christian’ Mysticism of Meister Eckhart and Terese of Ávila

In this article, we probe the so-called “Christian” mysticism of Meister Eckhart and Teresa of Ávila. We scrutinise the Orphic creation myth and Neoplatonism’s roots. We unpack how these two mystics would answer the six worldview questions. What is God like? What is the universe like? What is a person? Why do we suffer? What is the remedy? What happens after death? We conclude with a critique of “Christian” mysticism and show how it is both world-denying and auto-salvific. Neither option is Christian.

Book Reviews

Dan Strange on Making Faith Magnetic

Every month, The Good Book Company make available digital versions of one of their books at no charge. This month (October 2024) it’s Making Faith Magnetic: Five Hidden Themes Our Culture Can't Stop Talking About… And How to Connect Them to Christ, by Dan Strange, which is available in exchange for an email address here.

Primer

All 12 issues of Primer, published by the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches, have been made available for free as pdfs.

From the website:

‘Primer was born out of a desire to help church leaders to stay theologically sharp. Sometimes, pastors train for ministry at a theological college but then find it hard to maintain further study after moving into ministry […]

‘[E]ach issue of Primer takes one topic of theology and expands on it six or seven long-form articles.

‘Each issue looks at what’s been said about the topic historically, and how the church is engaging with it today. There are often reviews of helpful books to encourage further reading as well as chapters focused on how the topic shapes pastoral ministry. There are even interviews now again with ministry leaders.’

The following volumes were published:

Issue 01: True to His Word – on the trustworthiness of Scripture

Issue 02: How Far We Fell – on the doctrine of sin

Issue 03: True to Form – a biblical approach to gender and sexuality

Issue 04: A Place to Stand – on justification by faith

Issue 05: Coming Soon – on the end times

Issue 06: Newness of Life – on sanctification

Issue 07: Show & Tell – on apologetics

Issue 08: How Great a Being – on the doctrine of God

Issue 09: All Being Equal – on the Trinity

Issue 10: This World with Devils Filled – on the devil, demons, and spiritual warfare

Issue 11: A Little Lower than the Angels – on the doctrine of humanity

Issue 12: In the Flesh – on the incarnation

See here for more information, and to download the issues.

Centre for Public Christianity (March 2024)

Among other items, the Centre for Public Christianity has posted a ‘Life and Faith’ interview (here) with Justin Brierley on ‘the return of religious belief’.

Rebecca McLaughlin on Easter and Resurrection

Every month, The Good Book Company make available digital versions of one of their books at no charge. This month (March 2024) it’s Is Easter Unbelievable? Four Questions Everyone Should Ask about the Resurrection Story by Rebecca McLaughlin, a short but excellent exploration of the reality and significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection, which is available in exchange for an email address here.

Evangelical Review of Theology 47, 4 (November 2023)

The latest Evangelical Review of Theology is now online and available in its entirety as a pdf here.

Introduction: Thank You!

Godfrey Yogarajah

Praying for the Persecuted: IDOP

Anna E. Hampton

Towards a Theology of Risk for the 21st Century

Risk is not always right! As threats against Christians intensify in many parts of the world, we must gain deeper understanding of when God is calling us into risky situations and be spiritually and emotionally prepared for the possible results. This article by an experienced risk consultant dispels common myths and offers a mature theological perspective.

Wanjiku M. Kihuha and Joshua Robert Barron

Introducing the Africa Society of Evangelical Theology

Is African Christianity theologically shallow? It is not, thanks in part to the Africa Society of Evangelical Theology. In this article, two ASET leaders describe the organization’s vision and accomplishments and encourage theologians everywhere to engage with the exciting work emerging from Africa.

Jeffrey S. Krohn

The ‘Third Mention’ of Apostles and Prophets: Ephesians 4:11 in Light of 2:20 and 3:5

Many Christian leaders (including Joseph Mattera in our May 2023 issue) see a role for apostles and prophets in the contemporary church. This article examines, with illustrative references to African interpreters and popular current practices, whether Paul’s references to ‘apostles and prophets’ in Ephesians support such an understanding.

Joshua Robert Barron

Is the Prosperity Gospel the Gospel? The Prosperity and Productivity Gospels in African Christianity

We know that some versions of the Prosperity Gospel are off the rails, as this article colourfully documents. But the article goes on to commend the positive impact of some African variants that often go unnoticed.

Amanda Jackson

Women in the Church Today

Disagreements over the appropriateness of female pastors often obscure the much broader agreement that women have important gifts that should be deployed for the kingdom of God. Yet those gifts are often overlooked. In this article, the WEA’s Senior Advisor on Diversity and former Director of its Women’s Commission lays out a pathway towards greater engagement of women for the benefit of all.

Thomas K. Johnson

Adam and Eve, Where Are You? A Missionary Philosophy of God’s Questions for Humanity

People who do not know God often believe illogical things about the world, either because they have not thought about the issues seriously, uncritically accept views from the culture around them, or are subconsciously hiding from God’s truth. Based on his many years of teaching in a secular context, the WEA’s senior theological advisor suggests 10 questions that we can use to help people question their assumptions and become open to God’s answers.

Evert Van de Poll

Protestantism, Early Baptists and the Emergence of Human Rights

The development of modern understandings of human rights is widely attributed to Enlightenment thinkers, but Christians had constructed similar arguments even earlier. This article traces that history with primary reference to three early Baptists whose worldviews were shaped by the intolerance they experienced.

Timoteo D. Gener

James McClendon’s Theology of Culture and Its Implications for Cultural Engagement

In this essay, a leading Filipino theologian reviews the work of James McClendon, including his interaction with Paul Tillich, H. Richard Niebuhr and others, as a means of shedding light on the church’s opportunities for cultural transformation. Specific applications to the Philippine setting provide a model for applications in other contexts.

Book Review

Mission Catalyst 1 (2023) on Apologetics

The current issue of Mission Catalyst, published by BMS World Mission, is now available. This issue is devoted to ‘Transforming Apologetics’.

Here’s the blurb:

‘In this issue: How to make interfaith friends and not alienate people. Kang-San Tan and Benno van den Toren share how we remedy the Western world’s hold on apologetics, Rev Ruth Conlon talks us through how we can act out radical inclusion, Amro Hussein shares a time he changed his mind, and you’ll hear from regular columnist Natalia-Nana Lester-Bush on how mission is racist.’

Mission Catalyst is available as a free subscription, or this issue can be downloaded as a pdf here.

Rebecca McLaughlin on Easter

Every month, The Good Book Company make available digital versions of one of their books at no charge. This month (April 2023) it’s Is Easter Unbelievable? Four Questions Everyone Should Ask about the Resurrection Story by Rebecca McLaughlin, a short but excellent exploration of the reality and significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection, which is available in exchange for an email address here.

Conversations That Count

The C.S. Lewis Institute has put together a small group resource called ‘Conversations That Count: An Introduction to Apologetics for and by Women’.

They note that ‘while the questions in apologetics are for the most part the same for both men and women, in recent years, female Christian apologists have provided some important and unique perspectives to the discipline borne out of their own experiences as women sharing their faith with others’.

The course covers six key topics and is organised into seven small group sessions, including an orientation session. Each of the six topics has most of the following components:

• Key Bible verse for memorisation and meditation

• An article written by a Christian woman with expertise in the topic

• A video lecture given by a female Christian apologist (Amy Orr-Ewing or Jana Harmon)

• Discussion questions for your small group

• Conversational apologetics practice

See here for the start of the course.

Centre for Public Christianity (September and October 2021)

In September, the Centre for Public Christianity posted a ‘Life and Faith’ podcast (here) with CPX’s own Justine Toh talking about her new book on achievement addiction – ‘what it’s like for all of us to live in a world that’s obsessed with success’ – and another one (here) with journalist Greg Sheridan, discussing his new book, Christians: The Urgent Case for Jesus in our World.

This month sees an interview (here) with Jenny Brown on ‘the spectrum of mental health, maturity, and how we change in the context of the “family systems” we’re part of’.

Foundations 79 (Autumn 2020)

Issue 79 of Foundations: An International Journal of Evangelical Theology, published by Affinity, is now available (here in its entirety as a pdf), which includes the below essays.

Donald John MacLean
Editorial

Lee Gatiss

Pleasing the Impassible God

The Bible says, “find out what pleases the Lord” (Ephesians 5:10). But is God not already perfectly happy, and therefore not susceptible to changeable emotional reactions as we so often are? This article unpacks issues of accommodation in divine speech, anthropopathism, and the doctrines of immutability and impassibility (the idea that God is “without passions” as some confessions put it), in order to understand better the scriptural metaphor of pleasing or displeasing God.

Sarah Allen

Complementarianism, Quo Vadis?

This article examines the current state of complementarian practice and attitudes within UK churches, seeking to understand how, where and why change might be occurring. The research is twofold: the first part is an overview of recent publications and online discussion of complementarianism and related matters. Here questions are raised about the causes for and possible consequences of dis-ease with some theological models and cultural expressions of sex-difference. The second part of the article is an examination, by way of interview and surveys, of practice in churches which could be described as complementarian. Here we consider the way the Church is responding to contemporary culture’s growing concern for equality of opportunity and representation, as well as the influence of different ecclesiologies and social settings on practice and change.

David Owen Filson

The Apologetics and Theology of Cornelius Van Til

This essay provides an appreciative analysis of two key, sometimes misrepresented apologetical contributions of Cornelius Van Til: the definition of presupposition, and paradox and the Trinity. Recent criticisms of Van Til tend to repeat the suggestions that he operated with a Kantian and Hegelian synthesis, accounting for inconsistencies in his theological and apologetical programme. Rather than directly addressing recent scholarship, a relatively unfamiliar debate between Van Til and J. Oliver Buswell will be examined in an effort to let Van Til speak for himself. In doing this it will become evident why he remains an important and needed figure for the Church in a post-postmodern, secular/pluralistic cultural moment, aptly described by Chares Taylor as a “...spiritual super-nova, a kind of galloping pluralism on the spiritual plane”.

Steve Bishop

Abraham Kuyper: Cultural Transformer

Abraham Kuyper was a theologian, statesman, journalist, church reformer, church historian, church pastor, founder of a Christian university and a Christian political party, and one-time prime minister of the Netherlands. He was a Reformed Christian whose writings have shaped a movement known as neo-Calvinism. Yet he is little known in the UK. In this article, I examine several key themes that shaped Kuyper’s approach to theology, culture and society. These include the sovereignty of God, the cultural mandate, the role of worldviews, common grace, the antithesis, and sphere sovereignty. These themes provided the theoretical framework for Kuyper’s neo-Calvinism. I look at how they shaped his approach to church, politics, education, art and mission.

Song-En Poon

Samuel Rutherford’s Doctrine of Sanctification and Seventeenth Century Antinomianism

This paper seeks to examine Samuel Rutherford’s particular emphasis on the doctrine of sanctification in his response to the Antinomian Controversy in seventeenth century England.

Book Reviews

Centre for Public Christianity (November 2020)

Among other items, the Centre for Public Christianity has posted an interview with John Stackhouse (here) ‘about his new book Can I Believe?, and why he thinks the weirdness of Christianity fits the weirdness of the world as it really is’.

Evangelical Review of Theology 44, 4 (October 2020)

The latest Evangelical Review of Theology, published by The World Evangelical Alliance, is now online and available in its entirety as a pdf here.

Editor’s Introduction:

Is Our Quality Higher Than That of the US Presidential Campaign?

Efraim Tendero

Evangelicals and Elections

Thomas K. Johnson

The Protester, the Dissident and the Christian

When and why should Christians protest? How can we turn the hearts of other protesters towards the hope offered by the Christian gospel? This article, revised from a sermon originally preached during the Arab Spring uprisings, answers those timely questions as we experience another year of widespread protests.

Ebenezer Yaw Blasu

The Invisible Global War: An African ‘Theocological’ Assessment of Responses to COVID-19

How should the experience of COVID-19 shape future human behaviour? This article examines responses by both Christians and practitioners of primal (traditional) African religions, from a perspective that combines theology and ecology. Drawing on scientific and spiritual principles, it argues that COVID-19 may be calling us to avoid forms of resource exploitation that disturb the sensitive balance between human activity and nature.

Andrea L. Robinson

Reflecting the Image of God through Speech: Genesis 1–3 in James 3:1–12

This article shows how James 3:1–12 echoes the creation account, using imagery from Genesis 1–3 to correlate purity of speech with bearing the image of God. Accordingly, the untamed tongue is regarded as a central characteristic of fallenness and a distortion of God’s image – emphasizing that our failure to tame the tongue separates individuals from God, creates division in the community of faith, and has a severely destructive impact on the world. Applications and a sample sermon outline are provided.

C. Ryan Fields

Evangelical Engagement with Barth: A Modest Proposal

Karl Barth, one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century, is too important for evangelicals to ignore but not easy to evaluate. Barth reacted against liberalizing tendencies with a strong emphasis on the centrality of Christ and the power of Scripture, but his theology also contained some innovations that deviate from evangelical tradition. This article surveys evaluations of Barth by English-speaking evangelicals and offers well-informed suggestions on how to appropriate Barth’s work.

Jana Holiday and Linda Cannell with James D. McLennan

The Puzzle of Institutional Inertia in Theological Education

Theological institutions must sustain their core values while not resisting necessary change. The authors draw on their extensive experience in theological education and board governance to address how four groups of stakeholders– administrators, faculty, students and boards – can resist institutional inertia.

Chris Gousmett

What Are the ‘Gates of Hades’ in Matthew 16:18?

Matthew 16:18 contains one of Jesus’ most obscure remarks, as he assures Peter (and us) that the ‘gates of Hades’ will not overcome the church. But gates are stationary objects that don’t normally overcome anything. What was Jesus promising? This article shows the weakness of prevailing interpretations and argues for an expansive metaphorical alternative.

Thomas Schirrmacher

Observations on Apologetics and Its Relation to Contemporary Christian Mission

Christians often think of apologetics as something that only academics do, but actually it has been an essential part of Christian mission ever since the book of Acts. This article offers penetrating reflections on the meaning of apologetics today and how all Christians should equip themselves to do it.

Elmer Thiessen

The Reconstruction of Evangelism by Liberal Protestants: An Evangelical Response

Many voices – both secular and religious – argue that it is inappropriate in a religiously pluralistic world for evangelicals to call all people to repentance and faith in Christ. This article, by a leading evangelical expert on the ethics of evangelism, uses a recently published book critical of traditional evangelism as a starting point to explore how evangelicals should respond to such objections.

Book Reviews

Rebecca McLaughlin on Confronting Christianity

I wrote the following mini review for November 2019’s edition of Highlights, produced by the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.

Rebecca McLaughlin, Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion (Wheaton: Crossway, 2019).

The chances are you’ve encountered someone who believes we’re better off without religion, or that Christianity is homophobic and misogynistic and has been disproved by science anyway. Perhaps you’ve wrestled with some of those issues yourself. Brilliantly written and drawing on her personal experience as well as a wealth of research, Rebecca McLaughlin engages honestly and winsomely with some of the most difficult questions faced by Christians today.

Centre for Public Christianity (July 2019)

Among other items, the Centre for Public Christianity has posted an audio interview with Michael Ramsden, International Director of RZIM, ‘about commitment, fulfilment, his conversation with politicians and terrorists, and his personal faith’, along with a further one on ‘how we respond to injustice: as nations, groups, and individuals’. The one asks, Are we commitment-phobes? The other asks, Are we victims?

Centre for Public Christianity (April 2018)

Among other items, the Centre for Public Christianity has posted an audio interview in which Greg Sheridan, long-time foreign editor at The Australian, talks to Simon Smart about his new book, God is Good for You: A Defence of Christianity in Troubled Times – ‘about why he wrote the book, where religion is headed in the West, the fallout of the sexual abuse scandal in the church, his personal faith, and more’.

Just Thinking 26, 3 (2018)

The current issue of Just Thinking, the magazine of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, was recently posted online. The magazine is available to view from here, from where it can also be downloaded as a pdf.

Every Tribe and Tongue

Ravi Zacharias suggests that only when our hearts receive God’s forgiveness can we become instruments of true reconciliation.

In This House

‘Never in my young life had I experienced a place so unlike anything I knew,’ writes Margaret Manning Shull about a trip to South Africa as a young girl.

“Us” Versus “Them”

‘Fair or not, people judge the credibility of a message by the integrity of the messenger,’ argues Abdu Murray in an excerpt from his new book Saving Truth (Zondervan, 2018).

A Cry for Help

John Njoroge poignantly observes, ‘Trying to meet our real needs without Christ is like trying to satisfy our thirst with salty water.’

The Forgettable Power of Empathy

Lowe Finney revisits the perhaps too-familiar Bible story of Zacchaeus and Jesus’s surprising interaction with this despised tax collector.

No Longer Bound

Ravi Zacharias offers an encouraging word for those bound by the chains of the past.

Word and World 4 (2017)

‘You Will Be My Witnesses’ is the theme of the latest issue of Word and World, published by IFES, exploring how ‘students – along with everyone who has heard that Jesus has defeated death – might be witnesses to Jesus Christ in our time’. The issue contains the below pieces, and is available as a pdf here.

Vinoth Ramachandra

Christian Witness in the University

Vinoth Ramachandra ‘encourages students and faculty to join in conversations that are already going on and take them in a different direction’.

Cathy Ross

Sharing the Joy of the Gospel

Cathy Ross writes about ‘joining in God’s mission and being with others, recognizing that coming to faith is a process’.

Benno van den Toren

Why Inter-Religious Dialogue Needs Apologetics

Benno van den Toren writes that ‘dialogue between religions requires exchanging reasons, even if reason is rarely the primary factor in bringing people to faith’.

Fernando Abilio Mosquera Brand

Creation, Mission and Christ’s witnesses

For Fernando Mosquera, ‘the whole creation bears witness to God, and human witness fits within the mission of God as king, who involves his servants in going about his business in society and politics’.

Further Reading

Centre for Public Christianity (October 2017)

The Centre for Public Christianity has posted a video interview in four segments with Brian Rosner, Principal of Ridley College, Melbourne. He is talking about issues of identity, drawing on his new book, Known by God: A Biblical Theology of Personal Identity, as as well as his own experience of loss and recovery.

Also posted is a wide-ranging audio interview with Andy Bannister, Director of Solas Centre for Public Christianity in the UK, talking about life’s big questions, some of the key differences between Islam and Christianity, and what Christian faith has to offer our culture that might be worthwhile.